Debris Humor

I'm so glad that it's ok to have a few laughs again. Saturday Night Live had some funny sketches this past weekend with references to Katrina, and our local paper has had some humorous stories along with the usual depressing stuff. One of my favorites was a song in yesterday's paper which was a takeoff of "My Favorite Things" from "The Sound of Music.".

They called it, "My Favorite Things Are Debris." It was written by Steigman and Donna Musarra with with help from a few other folks mentioned in the article printed here.

My Favorite Things Are Debris

Water is swarming with venomous species
Elegant swimming pools teeming with feces
The rash on my haunches is starting to sting
These are the things that Katrina brings.

Houses are burning and levees are breeching
Into my water the sewage is seeping
Horrible odors awaft in the breeze
Hoping I don't catch a dreadful disease

Helicopters flying and criminals shooting
I called the police but they're too busy looting
National Guard troops all over the town
Why did it take Bush two weeks to dump Brown?

First the Dome leaked
Then the Dome reeked
Damn, the fridge smells bad!
New Orleans covered in green, purple and gold
It's not Mardi Gras, it's MOLD!

(slowly)
Boats on the rooftops and lawns full of branches
President hiding on big Texas ranches
Blue tarps on houses as far as I see
My favorite things are debris!

Local columnist Chris Rose always has interesting descriptions of goigns-on around town. Yesterday he offered this advice in his column for people returning to the city: "Do not open your refridgerator. Ever. Again." With all that I've written in my blog about the putrid appliances, this is something I could really relate to. One of Hubby's grad-students returned to New Orleans recently to check his home and did not heed this advice. He made the mistake of opening the fridge, and said it was crawling with maggots and he slammed it shut immediately. Too late. The memory of that stench will now follow him for a lifetime.

Rose writes today that the streets are now paved with appliances and wonders like the rest of us where all of this debris is going to go. He wrote "The city used to measure the success of Mardi Gras by announcing the accumulated tonnage of garbage that was collected during Carnival season. Well, by that measure, Kristina was a very successful hurricane." And for every person that returns to the city to clean out their house, more garbage accumulates.

He also notes that it's impossible to accurately portray the stench in the city until a scratch-n-sniff version of the daily paper can be produced. I will not be holding my breath for that one. Or will I? :-)

We're definitely getting a new stench today. A front moved through last night and it's very windy. The air stinks again. The debris piles keep growing. But now I am armed with humorous thoughts about it all. What else can you do?

As I sit here and write this, I am looking out the window at the debris mountain on the lawn across the street from me. Here is a photo. It's been there for almost 6 weeks now, and we have no idea when it will be picked up, so we're just getting used to it now like everyone else is. Their debris pile is worse than ours, but it's nothing compared to the pile at my friend Jeannie's house which flooded or any every house that flooded. It's a lovely debris pile just the same. And at least now I can sing along and finally enjoy my view of the debris.

Laugh at Ourselves

As the city rebuilds and starts trying to get back to normal, humor is returning as well. This one is going around the internet and was sent to me by a neighbor a couple of days ago. I also saw it reprinted in the newspaper yesterday. Somehow the original author has gotten lost in all the forwarding, but here it is for what it's worth:


YOU KNOW YOU LIVE IN LOUISIANA WHEN ....

You have FEMA's number on your speed dial.

You have more than 300 C and D batteries in your kitchen drawer.

Your pantry contains more than 20 cans of Spaghetti Os.

You are thinking of repainting your house to match the plywood covering your windows.

When describing your house to a prospective buyer, you say it has three bedrooms, two baths and one safe hallway.

Your SSN isn't a secret, it's written in Sharpie on your arms.

You are on a first-name basis with the cashier at Home Depot.

You are delighted to pay only $3 for a gallon of regular unleaded.

The road leading to your house has been declared a No-Wake Zone.

You decide that your patio furniture looks better on the bottom of the pool.

You own more than three large coolers.

You can wish that other people get hit by a hurricane and not feel the least bit guilty about it.

Three months ago you couldn't hang a shower curtain; today you can assemble a portable generator by candlelight.

You catch a 13-pound redfish in your driveway.

You can recite from memory whole portions of your homeowner's and flood insurance policies.

You consider a "vacation" to stunning Tupelo, Mississippi.

At cocktail parties, women are attracted to the guy with the biggest chainsaw.

You have had tuna fish more than 5 days in a row.

There is a roll of tar paper in your garage (if you still have a garage).

You can rattle off the names of the meteorologists who work for the Weather Channel.

Someone comes to your door to tell you they found your roof.

Ice is a valid (and deeply interesting) topic of conversation.

Your "drive-thru" meal consists of MRE's and bottled water.

Relocating to South Dakota does not seem like such a crazy idea.

You spend more time on your roof than in your living room.

You've been laughed at over the phone by a roofer, fence builder or a tree worker.

A battery powered TV is considered a home entertainment center.

You don't worry about relatives wanting to visit during the summer.

Your child's first words are "hunker down" and you didn't go to UGA.

Having a tree in your living room does not necessarily mean it's Christmas.

Toilet Paper is elevated to "coin of the realm" at the Red Cross shelter.

You know the difference between the "good side" of a storm and the "bad side."

Your kids start school in August and finish in July.

You go to work early and stay late just to enjoy the air conditioning.

Getting Started with Repairs!

We've been back a few days and have been very busy. Here's the latest on what's been going on around our household:

Our blue roof was finally installed. I don't think it covers the leaking area though. We think the roof is leaking where it attaches to the second story of the house, and a tarp cannot cover that. We'll have it fixed soon though. They would not install a tarp over the garage since it's not a living area. I don't think it's leaking there yet though.

The kids started school on Monday. They were actually thrilled. Attendance in our parish was down quite a bit overall, but there were MANY new kids from neighboring parishes over in New Orleans who are staying with family here in Slidell, and will be attending our school for as long as necessary. The schools are giving every child in the parish a free hot lunch through November. The hot lunch is very popular here and my kids normally ate it every day anyway. The busses are running and most of the teachers returned. My youngest daughter's school flooded but they had a crew working around the clock and were able to open on time. Part of the building is still being repaired, so they are doubling up in the classrooms for a couple more weeks until they are done.

Hubby went to New Orleans today to meet with someone from the university to see if he can be allowed into his office to get his computer and some of his research material so he can work on it. He should be there right now. Hopefully he hasn't been turned away. Security on campus is supposed to be pretty tight right now, and they still don't have any power.


The insurance adjustor came and went over our claim. It went really well and appears to be enough to cover everything we need to repair. One tip for anyone who still has to meet with their adjustor: Have all your receipts already copied and ready to give him. It made things MUCH faster and easier. I think it also helped make our adjustor more amicable since it made his job a lot easier. We can finally get started fixing things!

Unfortunately now we have to go through a big song and dance with our mortgage company who was also a payee on our check, and we can't cash it without their endorsement. Basically the mortgage company will hold the money in escrow and send us 1/3 of it at a time to make repairs and then we have to call their inspector. After each inspection, they will send us another 1/3 of the money. What a pain, but at least we are not having any problems with the insurance settlement.

We are going to have to do a big repair to the ceiling in our living room, which I did not realize was going to be such a big job. The roof leaked and ruined the ceiling.

It's a good thing we saved our fridge because it would not have been included on the homeowners insurance.

Today we signed on a local company to do the roof. They will probably get started sometime in the next two weeks. Hooray! The first thing to get fixed! It feels good to have someone lined up to fix something finally.

Now we are working on estimates for the fence, the siding, the carpet, and the drywall/ceiling. We're doing some of the smaller repairs ourselves, such as repairing all the screens that were damaged. I fixed those myself already! They look great. hubby reinstalled the missing shutters and fixed some of the missing siding on the front of the house. It looks better already.

Dog update: Lulu, the Welsh terrier, is now living with my parents in North Carolina. She was their dog originally anyway, so she really just returned home. We have been having a terrible time trying to keep her from running away since the hurricane, and so many other dogs and animals are running loose everywhere. She does not play well with other animals.

Our pug dog Oscar went to the vet for another checkup on his eye. He is still wearing his big plastic collar, and he has a long way to go before the eye heals completely. It is making progress, but it is very SLOW. The vet is still very worried about it and says it may take up to two months to heal, and wants me to think about some other surgery options. Yikes. We're still giving him antibiotics and eyedrops 4 times a day. A little bit of his vision has returned, but not like it was. Poor old guy.

We went to the grocery store this afternoon and I was thrilled to see much more food! They even had the salad bar open finally! Real food! No more Spaghetti-O's!

All in all, things are moving along finally. It feels good to finally be able to get started with repairs, and to get the kids back to a routine.

Vacation is Over

Today was our last day at the beach here in North Carolina. The kids took a long walk on the beach in the sunset. It was a beautiful evening. We tried to soak up the beautiful sights as much as we could. When we get back home, all the destruction will still be there waiting for us. Or maybe I'll be surprised at how much has been cleaned up while we were away.

Tomorrow we head back to Slidell. We'll probably spend the night somewhere and get there on Sunday afternoon. It was nice having a little break. It's nice having grandparents who live in a pretty place. There was nothing to do in Slidell this past week anyway, except scavenge the grocery stores and wait around for the insurance adjuster to show up. We haven't even been able to start fixing anything yet since he wants to see the damage before we can make our claim. He is supposed to be there on Monday morning bright and early.

The kids start school again on Monday too. Their teachers called to find out if they are returning. From talking to the teachers, it sounds like there will be a good turn out at school, and attendance will be much better than I imagined. That's wonderful news. I guess we'll see for sure once it starts. I better go turn in early to get ready for the long drive tomorrow!

Hanging out in NC

Hi everyone. Just a quick note to let you know that we are back in civilization again. We arrived in North Carolina this afternoon. It was 836 miles. We drove all day yesterday and then spent the night at a hotel last night and finished the trip today. It went really well. My kids are great little travelers.

I forgot to mention that on Sunday I recruited two more people to walk dogs at the Noah's Wish shelter in Slidell. They were so happy to help. One of them is my neighbor Kathy who is taking care of my dog Oscar's eye until Hubby gets back tomorrow. I'll write more later. Just wanted to let ya know that we're here, safe and sound!

On the Road

I'm so glad my friend Jimmie in Houston dodged the Rita storm! I know it probably feels like that whole evacuation mess that Houston had was a big waste since the storm mostly missed you. (But what if it hadn't?!) I know I felt that way last year during all the Hurricane Ivan evacuation mess. Our evac during Ivan was a complete disaster and we had many of the same problems that Houston did. It was so bungled, that my family decided we were better off staying home than getting stuck on the highway during the storm. We got lucky and missed it.

I think it was a big dress-rehearsal. Louisiana learned so much from that bumbled evac, and this time when it was really important, it went SO much better.

Last year during Ivan it took people 20 hours in their cars to make it 25 miles. Rediculous. And only 80% of the people evacuated. This year, the estimates are that 90% got out and there were no long traffic delays to speak of. It was all very orderly. So, Houston, think of the Rita evac as practice for the next one.

Speaking of being on the road, I'm taking the kids on a long car trip to Grandma and Grandpa's house in North Carolina for the week. Their school doesn't start for one more week, so we're going to hit the beach and try to relax if possible. It's a long drive and we'll probably take two days to do it. Just letting you know since I probably will be away from the blog temporarily.

Also, I don't know if anyone has noticed or not, but I changed the title of my blog from "Hurricane Katrina Refugee" to "Hurricane Katrina Returnee". It just seemed more fitting. :-)

Walkin' Dogs

A few folks have called to check on us with the latest weather, namely Rita. Don't worry, we'd be the first people outta here if we thought we needed to evacuate. The wind started last night, but it's bearable. It probably wouldn't be a problem at all if the community weren't still reeling from Katrina. There is SO much debris outside right now -- much more than there was immediately after Katrina hit because now everyone has returned and is emptying their flooded homes and piling it up outside, where it is now blowing all around. We lost some more of our fence, and someone's blue roof tarp is in our back yard. There's not much rain though, so that's good, especially since we don't have our tarp installed yet. Hubby is outside taking down the flapping parts of our fence before they hurt someone. More than anything, the wind is annoying. It's also really hot AND humid. It's almost 4 PM and it's still blowing. Normally a little breeze feels good, but right now it just feels like hot breath.

This morning I ran into Bob again while evaluating a tree that is about to fall in a neighbor's yard. He is the one I mentioned who has been working with the animal rescue group and making the city facility available for them. The group is called Noah's Wish and their main focus is to help animals during disasters. Bob said they desperately needed volunteers to help walk dogs in Slidell, so I headed over to become a dog walker for all the homeless dogs.

They currently have over 500 animals at their temporary shelter in Slidell. It appears chaotic at first, but it is actually all very well organized. Most of the volunteers were from around the country. They have different people in charge of certain groups of animals, and veterinarian volunteers as well. The dogs need to get out of their crates to go potty since most of them hold it while they are in there. While they are out being walked, another volunteer cleans their crate and replaces the food and water. The animals are all tagged and everything is documented on the sheet attached to their crate so they don't miss anything. Those dogs were so happy to get out and go potty!

They can only be walked one at at time. I helped walk dogs for about 3 hours, so at about 10 minutes per dog, I only did about about 20 dogs. They want to have them all walked at least twice a day, so they need a lot of volunteers. I'm going to try to go back and help as much as I'm able during the next couple of weeks. It will probably be a lot easier once this hot wind stops blowing.

Many of the animals belong to people who have returned to Slidell, but can't care for their animals because they are staying in shelters, hotels, or they are camping in RVs until they can get their houses livable again. While I was there a couple of dogs got to go home with their owners who were so happy to see them. Other animals have not been identified yet, and the group tries to help locate their owners. Eventually, they will foster out the animals locally so their owners can visit them while trying to repair their housing, and then eventually the rest will be adopted.

If anyone in Slidell is reading this and you want to help walk dogs, the shelter is over next to Heritage Park. There is someone at the gate who will tell you where to go. You have to be at least 18 years old to volunteer. Be prepared to get dirty, and you have to use a baggie to pick up whatever poop your pooch pals produce. :-)

Also -- Anyone in Slidell who just needs pet food or leashes or kennels to house your animals, they that available also. There is no charge. Just go talk to them and tell them what you need. I'm sure a lot of people around here can use a dog kennel of some sort since there aren't many backyard fences left standing.


As for my little dog, Oscar, he seems to be doing better. The swelling in his eye has gone down quite a bit and he is no where near as stressed out as he was initially. He still has to wear his big plastic Elizibethan collar though, since he'd still like to scratch at it. The ulcer looks a little better (at least as far as I can tell), and he has a follow up appointment at the vet on Monday.

Smart Kid

I said one of those mom-isms today. You know, one of the things that all mothers say such as, "Careful or you'll put an eye out with that!" What I said was, "We are going to do some house cleaning today -- starting with your bedroom before it is declared a disaster area."

My darling Maddie gave a quick witted reply and said, "Well, Mommy, technically ...it already is!"

When did 9-year-olds get so smart?

Another Slidell Family Blog

I ran across this blog today by Ned and Linda, a family in Slidell, who are dealing with the daily struggle of cleaning up and rebuilding. Their struggle is SO much more difficlut than ours. I do not know them personally, but I am so glad they are able to share their experiences in their blog which was created to keep their family and friends up to date. They give a detailed account of digging out their flooded home and also having to deal with an army of trees that collapsed onto it and other family member's homes as well.

They write, "It'’s Hard to Remember What Our Lives Were Like". It's so true. I've talked to many people with similar circumstances to theirs and it's heartbreaking at the sheer numbers of folks dealing with it. Spending several days helping my friends gut their flooded house really gives perspective on what is involved. Linda writes about the ridiculous cost of tree removal services (I have to agree that it's outrageous!) and the stench of freezer sludge and the removal of flooded belongings. She talks about the huge pile of debris in their front yard and says that, "There is no house in our area that does not have a pile just like ours in front of their house."

She's sure right about that. Almost every neighborhood has those huge piles of debris, and in some neighborhoods I've seen, the piles are almost higher than the houses. Even our neighborhood (which took much less damage by comparison) has huge piles, although nothing like the flooded neighborhoods. The garbage trucks come by and remove the bags of household garbage, but they leave all the debris. Like everyone else in Slidell, we are all hoping that someday the bulldozers will show up to haul it off "somewhere". I don't know where there is a hole big enough for this much debris.

Right now it's raining thanks to the new hurricane in the Gulf, Rita, and all that debris is getting even wetter. It's such a monumental amount of garbage, that I don't even know where they can begin.

I gotta hand it to Linda though for keeping her sense of humor through all of it. I loved yesterday's blog entry where she writes about a dead baby alligator they found in the driveway and it's subsequent burial. She cracked me up. The photos of their damage are amazing, and she keeps up her humor throughout with captions like "the new atrium in the kitchen". Good for her. She's not letting her spirit down despite the monumental clean up job they still have before them.

I just sent them a note about some volunteers at Grace Memorial Baptist Church in Slidell who have come with chain saws and are helping people remove trees for no charge. I don't know if they are still available, but it's worth checking out.

In their photos they also posted a collection taken at the cemetery next to their house. I now have a much better understanding of why the cemetery I wrote about earlier has not had any attention yet. There are obviously many MANY small cemeteries just like this that have been suffered devastation, and it's just going to take some time to get to them all.

Keep up your spirits Ned and Linda. Your account is inspiring.

Tropical Storm Party

I can't stress enough how important it is to stay in touch with your neighbors during a crisis. It's often the best way to get helpful information, and just a great way to feel in touch with your surroundings.

Tonight we had sort of an impromptu block party in my next door neighbor's driveway with neighbors from five different houses who happened to be outside. We stood around exchanging stories and recapping our first week home. We commented on the unusually beautiful sunset and strong breeze courtesy of Hurricane Rita. We are all waiting for the rain and tropical storm winds that we should get soon and that have most people around here rather tense at the moment. One party attendee was Bob, who is staying with a friend on our street after his Slidell home was demolished to a pile of rubble. He was a first responder here in Slidell and had lots of interesting things to share about those first few days when there was no contact with anyone in the city.

Bob also helps with an animal rescue group which is now serving as our Slidell animal control since the regular building was so badly damaged. He says they have about 500 animals over there right now, tons of kennels and truckloads of pet food (so please don't send any more pet food at the moment, but come get some if you need it!). Many of the animals belong to people who returned to the area but are unable to live in their homes because of the flood damage and are being cared for temporarily until they can make arrangements for permanent living. Day by day a few more animals go home with their owners which is good to see. It broke my heart to hear of a few of dogs that were rescued from roof tops in Slidell and have burnt feet from spending several days on hot tar shingle roofs. They got on the roofs during the flood and then were unable to get down after the water receded. Bob says that five local vets have been donating their services to help.

The makeshift animal shelter is at one of our city parks. Bob told us how some "helpful volunteers" keep catching a gaggle of geese every day and locking them up at the shelter. Bob has to keep letting them loose again because these geese actually just live at the park all the time. But he says with a chuckle that it "gives them something to do".

Before we knew it, it was dark outside and we had only the light from the garage to keep us going. Then the power started to blink and the lights faded in and out for a few seconds. Time to go home and dig out the flashlights just in case. Turn out the lights, the party's over!